Lettering



L. A. KINGSLEY 2,902,931

Sept. 8, 1959 LETTERING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 20, 1956 may,

INVENTOR. z/masg'y v BY Sept. 8, 1959 L. A. KINGSLEY LETTERING 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 20, 1956 y w W 4 United States Patent LETTERING Lewis A. Kingsley, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Application September 20, 1956, Serial No. 611,005

3 Claims. (Cl. 101399) This invention relates to a novel font of type for marking insulated electrical wires.

Insulated electrical wires, particularly those utilized in aircraft, have a code identification marked upon the insulation to assist in properly wiring the plane. An example of a machine for accomplishing this marking is described in my prior United States Patent 2,517,493. In marking such wires, and particularly smaller sizes Where the outside diameter is .050 inch or less, many problems are encountered. In marking such wires the marking is most legible when confined within a 120 area of the wire. The conventional Gothic design capital letters and numerals may be stamped thereon, however, the available combinations are limited.

It is an object of this invention to provide a design of secondary alphabetical letters useable in conjunction with capital letters for marking code identifications on wires.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a design of secondary alphabetical letters of uniform height and alignment to the capital letters and distinctive in appearance therefrom.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a design of secondary alphabetical letters wherein the descenders of certain of the letters are eliminated.

Other objects and advantages will be readily apparent from the following description.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation in section of a wire stamping machine.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a type holder.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of an individual type.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the design for secondary letters.

In general the stamping machine has an anvil mounted in a suitable block 12 held there by set screw 14 and having a groove 16 in the upper face of the anvil for receiving a wire 18 to be stamped.

Type 20 is held in type holder 22 mounted in reciprocal block 24 which is urged upwardly by spring 26. The type is heated through electrical wires 28 and foil 30 is trained between type 20 and wire 18. Thus when the type is lowered to the position seen in Figure 1 it, being heated, melts the ink on foil 30 and deposits same on wire 18. The formation of the type holder and the type are best seen in Figures 2 and 3. This apparatus and method of stamping wire are well known and the above description is provided to clarify the nature of this advance.

In order to render legible the lettering stamped on the curved surface of the wire, the printing face of the type is curved at 32, see Figure 3, to conform substantially with the curvature of the wire. Also, the area covered by the type covers a 120 area of the wire. When the type is formed in this manner there is no problem involved in printing on wire 18 the capital or upper case letters and numerals. However, since the code identifications printed on the wires are kept as short as possible, the number of combinations, such as for example K3, are limited.

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To increase the number of combinations available, lower case letters may be utilized. To make these letters clearly visible they are all of uniform height and alignment as the upper case or capital letters. When arranged for printing, all of the letters, both upper case and lower case, are aligned and bounded by imaginary spaced, parallel, upper and lower base lines. In order to be able to clearly distinguish the upper and lower case letters, the latter are formed of thinner lines and are slanted, as seen in Figure 4. In this manner they can easily be distinguished from the upper case or capital letters.

Certain lower case letters, such as g, j, p, q and y, have descenders 34 which project below the line on which one is writing or printing. Since these tails or descenders would project outside of the stamping area on the wire, it is desirable to formulate these letters so that the descenders are raised so that the lower extremity of the descender is on the same base line as the corresponding capital or upper case letter, as best seen in Figure 4. Lower case letters having ascenders, such b, d, h, for example, are arranged so that the upper extremity of the ascender is on the same base line as the corresponding capital or upper case letter. Other lower case letters, having neither ascenders nor descenders, such as a, e, m, n, for example, are enlarged to have the same height as the capital or upper case letters to be bounded by the upper and lower base lines.

In this manner a design of lower case letters may be formed which will greatly increase the available code identifications for marking on small wires and still fall within the available printing area on the wire being marked.

While what hereinbefore has been described is the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is readily apparent that alterations and modifications can be resorted to without departing from the scope of this invention and such alterations and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A font of type, for stamping code identifications on an insulated wire, containing capital and lower case letters, said lower case letters including some having ascenders and some having descenders, in which all of the capital letters are of a uniform predetermined height bounded by imaginary spaced, parallel, upper and lower base lines, all of the lower case letters being of uniform height and the same height as the capital letters and bounded by said imaginary upper and lower base lines, said lower case letters having a distinctive appearance from said upper case letters, the said type being concavely curved to conform to the curvature of the wire to be stamped.

2. A font of type in accordance with claim 1, in which the height of the letters corresponds to approximately 120 of the circumference of the wire to be stamped.

3. A font of type in accordance with claim 1, in which the distinctive appearance of the lower case letters includes the slanting the letters from a vertical.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES MacKeller et al.: Specimens of Printing Types. 15, 1892. Only page 252 made of record.

June 

